The eyes reflected the faint glow of the streetlamps outside, giving them a somewhat ferocious look.
"You're awake?"
Lu Ban looked toward the owner of the eyes, Wes.
"Am I going to die?"
Wes suddenly asked.
"All mortals must eventually die."
Lu Ban answered decisively.
"Thanks for that."
Wes sat up and began scratching his arm incessantly. At last, he could not stand it any longer and pulled up his sleeve, only to find blackness spreading across his skin until it had covered his entire hand. He even pulled open his collar and saw that his neck had turned black as well.
"It itches so badly. It's like ants crawling all over me. You understand, right? This feeling—the itch feels like it's coming from inside my bones."
Wes gave a grim laugh. His fingernails raked at his hand, and it was clear that he had already scratched through the skin, exposing the flesh beneath. Even so, the flesh was black as well.
"Do you think it would feel better if I dug out my bones?"
His hand moved to his neck. The black skin looked like the coating on some scratch-off lottery ticket, drawing his fingernails to scrape at it over and over.
A ferocious smile appeared on Wes's face. Combined with his actions, it looked thoroughly bizarre.
His fingers soon tore through the skin on his neck, but that was not enough. He wanted to dig deeper. Black blood seeped from where his fingers met the skin, but Wes paid no attention and continued scratching. At last, he clawed the flesh to pieces as well.
Lu Ban was very glad that Wes's skin, blood, and flesh had all turned black. That way, it looked no different from digging into a piece of chocolate cake with one's fingers, so it